TOSS BX. GUN CASE
Cop admits evidence was tainted, discipline issues hidden
A Bronx gun case was thrown into turmoil when the arresting officer admitted evidence had been tampered with and he had a host of disciplinary issues, including punching a handcuffed suspect in the face and using a banned chokehold, the Daily News has learned.
The 2016 case against three suspects was considered solid because DNA tied them to weapons recovered by police.
Now there’s a chance there will be zero convictions after a Bronx judge this month blasted prosecutors for failing to turn over in a timely manner 40th Precinct Officer Omar Habib’s disciplinary file, and after it was revealed the weapons were carelessly collected by investigators.
Gun suspect Angel Valentin was acquitted late last year, and his alleged accomplices — brother Richard Valentin and Darryl Chisholm — are trying to withdraw their guilty pleas to fight the charges.
The three were busted on Sept. 2, 2016, inside a Tinton Ave. apartment, where cops recovered three guns. DNA linked Angel Valentin to two, and his brother and Chisholm to one each. Richard Valentin and Chisholm pleaded guilty last November and were due to besentenced in January.
Angel Valentin rolled the dice and went to trial.
When it came time for Habib to take the stand, his testimony was a disaster, according to Valentin’s lawyer Raymond Gazer.
A transcript showed Habib (photo) admitted one gun was moved from where it was found and put in a box with money on top of it before photos were taken or weapon was tested for fingerprints or DNA. He admitted a second gun was moved. No money was vouchered. Habib said he didn’t know who moved the guns or how the cash got there. He talked about his disciplinary issues when questioned by Valentin’s lawyer but refused to discuss the chokehold. Habib, a 12-year veteran, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
After Valentin’s acquittal, Gazer shared information with the other defendants’ lawyers, who are now trying to get their pleas withdrawn, contending the DA’s office wrongly withheld Habib’s misconduct.
In a May 10 decision, Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio agreed. He set a hearing for June 14.
“What would have happened if my client had pled?” Gazer asked. Angel Valentin has since sued the NYPD, Habib and other officers. “None of this would have ever come out. The DA’s office had the information about [Habib]. They knew they had a problem. They were just hoping the case would go away.”
The DA’s office and the NYPD declined to answer questions about the gun case.
Habib was found guilty at a departmental trial of punching a handcuffed suspect in the face in 2009, and he pleaded guilty to fixing tickets in a 2011 scandal that involved hundreds of officers. He testified that both cases were prosecuted together and that he was suspended five days without pay, docked 35 vacation days and placed on dismissal probation for a year.
He was accused of using a banned chokehold on a civilian in and incident that was caught on video in 2017. The NYPD refused to say if Habib was punished for that.
In an interview with The News, Dennis Prewitt, 56, said of the Nov. 23, 2017, chokehold incident that cops showed up on an assault call at his Wales Ave. building that didn’t involve him. He said he got into an exchange with the officers.
One officer, a short white guy, stepped off the elevator, stepped back on and punched me in the face,” he said. “I guess I was knocked the f—k out. I didn’t know I was in a chokehold until later. They put me on my chest and one cop stepped on my back. I couldn’t breathe – I’m an asthmatic.”
The Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated Prewitt’s excessive-force complaint.